We are interested in submissions that explore the ethical dimensions of utopia, dystopia and science fiction (sf). This focus on ethics allows for a range of topics, including environmental ethics and climate change, human bioethics, animal ethics, the ethical use of technology, ethics of alterity and otherness, as well as related issues of social justice. We welcome submissions that bring these ethical considerations into dialogue with speculative fiction across different genres and modes, from sf about the near or distant future, to alternative histories about better or worse presents, to stories about utopian or dystopian societies.

We are interested in submissions that explore the ethical dimensions of utopia, dystopia and science fiction (sf). This focus on ethics allows for a range of topics, including environmental ethics and climate change, human bioethics, animal ethics, the ethical use of technology, ethics of alterity and otherness, as well as related issues of social justice. We welcome submissions that bring these ethical considerations into dialogue with speculative fiction across different genres and modes, from sf about the near or distant future, to alternative histories about better or worse presents, to stories about utopian or dystopian societies. Possible areas of engagement include, but are not limited to:

Environmental ethics in speculative climate fiction (“cli-fi”)

The treatment or representation of animals, artificial intelligence, aliens or other posthuman or non-human entities in utopia, dystopia and sf

Utopian and dystopian dimensions of Indigenous literatures and traditions

The ethics of alterity and ethical responses to otherness in speculative fiction

Politics, activism, social justice and ethics in sf and its fan communities

Bioethical issues in sf, including biopunk and cyberpunk subgenres

Feminist and queer theory engagement with utopia, dystopia and sf

Philosophy, ethics and the utopian impulse

Submission Guidelines

For the "Colloquy" special issue

Colloquy is an open access, peer-reviewed journal published by the Literary and Cultural Studies Graduate Research Program at Monash University. We publish scholarly work and creative writing from emerging and established researchers in literary and cultural studies, critical theory, continental philosophy, film and television studies, communications and media studies, and performance studies.

Research articles should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words. Referencing should adhere to Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition with endnotes only. Creative writing submissions should not exceed 4,000 words of prose, 80 lines of poetry, or eight pages of graphic narrative. Guidelines for translations, review essays, and book reviews, can be found at the website below.

For the book

The collection will adopt a global, comparative approach and the editors encourage submissions exploring both Anglophone and non-Anglophone literature, film, television and other media.

Submissions should be between 5,000 and 8,000 words. Referencing should adhere to Chicago Manual of Style 16th edition with endnotes and bibliography.

Full chapter submissions are due by 30 April 2018,

although interested contributors are encouraged to send 300–400 word abstracts to the editors by 1 March 2018, if they would like their topic reviewed for suitability for the more limited scope of the edited collection.

For essay and article submissions, you may request they be considered only for the Colloquy special issue or the (Un)Ethical Futures collection, although the editors recommend allowing consideration for both, to ensure the best chance of acceptance (pending peer review).

The following information should accompany your submission:

Author’s title, name, affiliation and position

A curriculum vitae and a brief biography (up to 100 words)

For essays and articles, an abstract (up to 150 words) and up to ten keywords

Permissions for any images used

Copies of any relevant ethics clearances and disclosure of funding

An acknowledgement that the work is not under simultaneous consideration elsewhere